The 50 greatest sitcom characters of ALL time

By ROGER BULLThe Times-Union,

Over time TV sitcom characters become real. After all, we visit them week after week, year after year. And since just about everything is rerun over and over, new generations get to know the characters and take them as their own.

Sure there many forgettable characters on forgettable shows. But there are others who stay with us. Barney, Lucy and George.

To be truly great, they don't have to necessarily be funny (although they usually are, these being comedies) or even leading characters. After all, it wasn't Andy Griffith that made Mayberry so memorable, it was Barney Fife. It wasn't Jerry Seinfeld, it was George Costanza. It isn't Lucy . . . well, yes it was.

They range from fairly normal healthy people to well-meaning buffoons to those with no redeeming qualities.

Invisible characters

Some of the best characters in sitcom history never actually appeared on screen. Here's a handful of our favorite "invisible" characters.

Vera (Cheers)

Carlton the doorman (Rhoda)

Wilson (Home Improvement)

Maris (Frasier)

Charlie (Charlie's Angels)

Mr. Steinbrenner (Seinfeld)

But they have cut out their own space and their own identity in the great television universe, and we remember them. And with that, we offer our own completely subjective list of the 50 greatest sitcom characters of all time.

1. Barney Fife (Don Knotts), The Andy Griffith Show. Was there ever any doubt? He just tried so darn hard. Turned his whole body into a weapon (even though he had just the one bullet).

2. Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), I Love Lucy. She defined slapstick as she got into and out of trouble.

3. George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Seinfeld. The selfish, petty and insecure guy who lives inside all of us.

4. Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), The Honeymooners. To the moon, Alice. The original sitcom Everyman.

14.Archie Bunker(Carroll O'Connor), All in the Family. Archie was the central and most talked-about character in a show that changed TV, but we happen to think Edith (Jean Stapleton) was the show's heart and soul.

15. Jethro Bodine (Max Baer), Beverly Hillbillies. No one did sophisticated international playboy like Jethro.